Sunday, 31 January 2010

How long can Terry remain England Captain?

When I heard a few days ago that the high court judge Mr Justice Tugendhat had decided to overturn an injunction on reporting details of John Terry's private life, I was just expecting the usual he's been having an affair behind his wife's back.

Even I was shocked to discover that the person he was having an affair with was the ex girlfriend of Wayne Bridge, his former Chelsea and England team mate! I've never particularly liked or disliked Terry, I think he's a great central defender, but after reading the stories today you have to think how low can someone's behaviour go!

I'm glad the injunction preventing the story being reported was overturned, It smacked of total arrogance on Terry's part to try and stop details of his private life being reported. There was no legitimate reason for the injunction to be put in place, and only acts against the principles of 'freedom speech'

Sporting fame, money and public adulation seems to create a little bubble in which some sports stars live, away from the real world. This builds a form of arrogance where they believe they can act however they like regardless of the consequences.

To be honest it doesn't bother me whether the likes of Terry and more recently Tiger Woods want to have countless affairs behind their wives back. That's their personal business, but it's annoying when they then start to complain about press intrusion and respecting people's private lives.

When you're in the public eye your professional and private life will always be under scrutiny whether you like it or not. Too many sports stars and other celebrities want to have their cake and eat it.

Now the debate is taking place as to whether Terry should remain England captain. Although his private life has no bearings on his ability as a footballer and captain, he shouldn't be sacked, he should just resign which would be the most honourable thing to do.

I don't expect him to actually do this. It seems these days, that regardless of someone's professional failings or personal conduct; actually coming out and publicly admitting your mistakes and taking responsibility is the last thing people are prepared to do.

It was quite telling that Terry seemed more concerned with protecting his commercial interests by trying to prevent the story coming out, more so than preventing his wife finding out. Of course his commercial interests are going to suffer as a result of this, it's only to be expected.

I'm sure that if England win the World Cup with Terry as captain, nobody will be bothered about his personal life, but if he's even in the position to captain England in the World Cup final, he'll be incredibly lucky.

1 comment:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete